Misha Roberts, Camille Myrie, David Schnoll, Caleigh Bart
Thesis:
While Western views pertaining to the treatment of women and women’s rights in Afghanistan are predominantly negative, the truth unveiled in the history of Afghanistan shows that the country’s reputation for discrimination and violence towards their women was not always accurate, and-at times-depends solely on the group in possession of political power.
The Past 30 - 40 Years
The harsh oppression of women in Afghanistan is largely a more recent development, starting after the 1960’s. Amir Amanullah Khan, the King of Afghanistan from 1919 to 1924, in an attempt to modernize Afghanistan instated many reforms in the treatment of women, including banning child marriage, granting educational equal rights, and giving women the right to choose their husbands. While many of his reforms are abolished with his forced leave in 1929 (Tribal leaders and more orthodox Muslims abandon his ideas in favor of a more strict adherence to the Shariah law-or the Muslim moral code), later leaders continued to improve the plight of women in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan continued taking steps forward with the Rule of King Zahir Shah, starting in 1933 and ending in 1973, and his reign is considered a period of gradual, stable modernization for Afghanistan:
In the Beginning of 1964 Marxist leader Anahita Ratebzad, forming an offshoot of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, pressured the government (a monarchy headed by King Zahir Shah) for action against illiteracy, forced marriages, and walwar-a type of dowry presented to the parents of the wife by a prospective husband.
A new draft of a the Afghanistan constitution in 1964 created a democracy, with voting rights, freedom of speech, free elections, a raise in the minimum marriage age, and allowed for women to enter into politics.
Sanaubar:
Kite Runner begins in 1975, just at the end of Shah’s power, after Mohammed Daoud Khan seizes power in a bloodless coup, while Shah is away on an official trip. The character of Sanaubar, Hassan’s is introduced, but never really expanded upon other than to state that she fled after birthing Hassan, to be in a traveling dancing troupe, and that her marriage to Ali was arranged.
Afghanistan in 1963, around the time where she would have birthed Hassan, was in a period of positive change for women under the rule of King Zahir Shah. In fact a few years before, in 1959, the unveiled women of the royal family appearing at an Independence Day celebration, marked the end of state enforced veiling.
Sanaubar's character would have been heavily influenced by the time of prosperity the mid-1900's had brought Afghan women, and I believe she was placed in the story to represent the independent spirit of women at the time-in a very male-centric story. She has left before the plot really begins, and it's start, when the boys are twelve, marks a period of great change in Afghanistan-one that brings less and less equality for women.
Effects of the Taliban on Family Life
With the Taliban rising to power in 1996, women were given a whole new list of laws that they were forced to follow, and a majority of they had a direct affect on their life within their family.
Lack of Income Women were completely denied education and they were not allowed to become employed, which caused many issues to arise in the home: - With no income, unless the male figure was wealthy, women were pressured to come up with more money. Some would turn to prostitution as a secret way to boost their family's income.
The Taliban restricted where the women were allowed to wash cloth, and completely prohibited them to wash them along the water streams in the city. This created a more difficult process for women- if they lived in or near the city they had to find somewhere else to wash their clothes.
Health Problems Not only did women have to travel long distances for a place to wash their clothes, but they now possibly had to travel far to find a doctor if they were ill or injured. -Women were not allowed to be treated by male doctors, which were the majority of doctors, unless they were accompanied by a chaperone. -Women were now forced to travel outrageous distances in order to receive the medical help they needed. -This lead to many untreated illnesses and their ability to work at home would then be in jeopardy.
Young Women in the Family Aside from the struggles that mothers were put through, young girls also faced the strict laws of the Taliban. -The Taliban encouraged marriage for girls under 16 years old. -According to Amnesty International, a human rights organization, 80% of marriages in Afghanistan were forced.
Effects of the Taliban on Everyday Life for Women
As the Taliban increasingly gains control over not only only women's but everyones rights, they announce their full control over what women do at home as well as how they are to present themselves.
Specific Bans -Women cannot leave the house unless they are accompanied by a male family member. -Women were not allowed to be seen on the balcony (if they had one) of their homes. -Ban on the Use of cosmetics. Women with nail polish would have their fingers cut off. -Banned the watching of tv and the listening of music
Another strong point that the Taliban enforced was the idea that a man must not be able to hear a woman:
Women could not laugh loudly.
Women could not wear a shoe with a heel.
Perhaps the most restricting and limiting enforcement by the Taliban was the requirement of women to constantly wear Burqas.
Burqa- an outer garment that the Taliban demanded the women wear when they were in public.
-The Taliban believed that "The face of a woman is a source of corruption". -The Taliban used the Qu'ran to justify the application of the burqa:
"O Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the faithful to draw their outergarments (jilbabs) close around themselves; that is better that they will be recognized and not annoyed. And God is ever Forgiving, Gentle."
-Qur'an Surah/Chapter Al-Ahzab Ayah/Verse 59
Health Effects of the Burqa
Blocks the sun so denies the UV rays from coming in. This creates a deficiency in the Vitamin D production in the skin which could cause cancer. However, the risk of skin cancer is highly decreased due to this lack of UV rays.
Temperatures in these burqas reach over 100 degrees which cause strokes, heat flashes, and commonly causes women to pass out.
To disobey any of these restrictions resulted in the consequence of beheading for men and execution by means of public stoning for women.
However, today, the Taliban is still has a frightening presence in Afghanistan. Aside from the severe consequences that women would face if they suggested rebellion, there are cases of women who disobeyed the Taliban.
On July 9, 2012, the Taliban executed a young woman named Najiba who was accused of adultery. This shows just how severe their consequences were and the way the members of the Taliban react show that they genuinely feel that they are doing the right thing,
In response to this shooting, 700 women of the Women's Rights Activists marched to Kabul to protest this recorded execution. They are pleading the government to take the violence involving women more seriously and to become more involved.
This rallied supporters throughout Afghanistan and opened president Karzai's eyes that he needs to really take extreme steps in making peace or taking down the Taliban.
Taliban Law Changes and their effect on Women
As the Taliban came to power in 1996, life became increasingly hard for women in Afghanistan. In an attempt to fully eradicate women’s chances of gaining equality the Taliban enacted and enforced strict education and economic regulations.
EDUCATION:
In Afghanistan these regulations led to 9 out of 10 Afghan women to be illiterate. This astonishing fact clearly stems from a bigger issue, the restrictions on schooling for women. Only 40% girls attended any school at all. On top of that, girls over the age of 8 were prohibited from attending school, as well as all women being prohibited from attending Kabul University.
Some girls have even been attacked for attempting to get an education. In the video below two girls had acid sprayed on them by a passerby, simply for walking to school.
The treatment of women in daily life played a large factor on Afghanistan’s economy. No women were allowed outside without a burqa which covered their entire body. This act was followed religiously, to the extent that women could be beaten for disobeying. Such an act caused many women to be reduced to housework, leaving men to fend for the family. With no education and no personal freedoms, the Taliban ensured women would not have a voice with which to speak against the government.
Such atrocities also translated into the medical care given to women in Afghanistan. Even though 70% of the healthcare services given in Afghanistan were supplied relief efforts women were only allowed to be examined by doctors while fully clothed, eliminating any chance of an accurate examination. This large outside influence cost the US 178 million dollars in 2001 alone, causing a strain on our economy, simply to make up for what the Taliban could not supply.
Graph from 2010 Survery "AFGHANISTAN IN 2010: A SURVEY OF THE AFGHAN PEOPLE" found on www.asiafoundation.org
Three Main Points
The inequality for women in Afghanistan was not up to par with the violence of today-there was a great period of progression for women.
With the Taliban came a total control of women's at-home and in-public behavior-with violent consequences for unorthodoxy.
Overseas attention to the issue of modern women if Afghanistan has made some relief-though limited-possible.
Women In Afghanistan
Misha Roberts, Camille Myrie, David Schnoll, Caleigh BartThesis:
While Western views pertaining to the treatment of women and women’s rights in Afghanistan are predominantly negative, the truth unveiled in the history of Afghanistan shows that the country’s reputation for discrimination and violence towards their women was not always accurate, and-at times-depends solely on the group in possession of political power.The Past 30 - 40 Years
The harsh oppression of women in Afghanistan is largely a more recent development, starting after the 1960’s. Amir Amanullah Khan, the King of Afghanistan from 1919 to 1924, in an attempt to modernize Afghanistan instated many reforms in the treatment of women, including banning child marriage, granting educational equal rights, and giving women the right to choose their husbands. While many of his reforms are abolished with his forced leave in 1929 (Tribal leaders and more orthodox Muslims abandon his ideas in favor of a more strict adherence to the Shariah law-or the Muslim moral code), later leaders continued to improve the plight of women in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan continued taking steps forward with the Rule of King Zahir Shah, starting in 1933 and ending in 1973, and his reign is considered a period of gradual, stable modernization for Afghanistan:
Sanaubar:
Kite Runner begins in 1975, just at the end of Shah’s power, after Mohammed Daoud Khan seizes power in a bloodless coup, while Shah is away on an official trip. The character of Sanaubar, Hassan’s is introduced, but never really expanded upon other than to state that she fled after birthing Hassan, to be in a traveling dancing troupe, and that her marriage to Ali was arranged.
Afghanistan in 1963, around the time where she would have birthed Hassan, was in a period of positive change for women under the rule of King Zahir Shah. In fact a few years before, in 1959, the unveiled women of the royal family appearing at an Independence Day celebration, marked the end of state enforced veiling.
Sanaubar's character would have been heavily influenced by the time of prosperity the mid-1900's had brought Afghan women, and I believe she was placed in the story to represent the independent spirit of women at the time-in a very male-centric story. She has left before the plot really begins, and it's start, when the boys are twelve, marks a period of great change in Afghanistan-one that brings less and less equality for women.
Effects of the Taliban on Family Life
With the Taliban rising to power in 1996, women were given a whole new list of laws that they were forced to follow, and a majority of they had a direct affect on their life within their family.
Lack of Income
Women were completely denied education and they were not allowed to become employed, which caused many issues to arise in the home:
- With no income, unless the male figure was wealthy, women were pressured to come up with more money. Some would turn to prostitution as a secret way to boost their family's income.
The Taliban restricted where the women were allowed to wash cloth, and completely prohibited them to wash them along the water streams in the city. This created a more difficult process for women- if they lived in or near the city they had to find somewhere else to wash their clothes.
Health Problems
Not only did women have to travel long distances for a place to wash their clothes, but they now possibly had to travel far to find a doctor if they were ill or injured.
-Women were not allowed to be treated by male doctors, which were the majority of doctors, unless they were accompanied by a chaperone.
-Women were now forced to travel outrageous distances in order to receive the medical help they needed.
-This lead to many untreated illnesses and their ability to work at home would then be in jeopardy.
Young Women in the Family
Aside from the struggles that mothers were put through, young girls also faced the strict laws of the Taliban.
-The Taliban encouraged marriage for girls under 16 years old.
-According to Amnesty International, a human rights organization, 80% of marriages in Afghanistan were forced.
Effects of the Taliban on Everyday Life for Women
As the Taliban increasingly gains control over not only only women's but everyones rights, they announce their full control over what women do at home as well as how they are to present themselves.
Specific Bans
-Women cannot leave the house unless they are accompanied by a male family member.
-Women were not allowed to be seen on the balcony (if they had one) of their homes.
-Ban on the Use of cosmetics. Women with nail polish would have their fingers cut off.
-Banned the watching of tv and the listening of music
Another strong point that the Taliban enforced was the idea that a man must not be able to hear a woman:
Perhaps the most restricting and limiting enforcement by the Taliban was the requirement of women to constantly wear Burqas.
Burqa- an outer garment that the Taliban demanded the women wear when they were in public.
-The Taliban believed that "The face of a woman is a source of corruption".-The Taliban used the Qu'ran to justify the application of the burqa:
- "O Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the faithful to draw their outergarments (jilbabs) close around themselves; that is better that they will be recognized and not annoyed. And God is ever Forgiving, Gentle."
-Qur'an Surah/Chapter Al-Ahzab Ayah/Verse 59Health Effects of the Burqa
However, today, the Taliban is still has a frightening presence in Afghanistan. Aside from the severe consequences that women would face if they suggested rebellion, there are cases of women who disobeyed the Taliban.
- On July 9, 2012, the Taliban executed a young woman named Najiba who was accused of adultery. This shows just how severe their consequences were and the way the members of the Taliban react show that they genuinely feel that they are doing the right thing,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9385825/Taliban-film-execution-of-woman-accused-of-adultery-in-Afghanistan.htmlTaliban Law Changes and their effect on Women
As the Taliban came to power in 1996, life became increasingly hard for women in Afghanistan. In an attempt to fully eradicate women’s chances of gaining equality the Taliban enacted and enforced strict education and economic regulations.
EDUCATION:
In Afghanistan these regulations led to 9 out of 10 Afghan women to be illiterate. This astonishing fact clearly stems from a bigger issue, the restrictions on schooling for women. Only 40% girls attended any school at all. On top of that, girls over the age of 8 were prohibited from attending school, as well as all women being prohibited from attending Kabul University.
Some girls have even been attacked for attempting to get an education. In the video below two girls had acid sprayed on them by a passerby, simply for walking to school.
http://cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/01/21/abawi.afghan.acid.cnn
ECONOMIC:
The treatment of women in daily life played a large factor on Afghanistan’s economy. No women were allowed outside without a burqa which covered their entire body. This act was followed religiously, to the extent that women could be beaten for disobeying. Such an act caused many women to be reduced to housework, leaving men to fend for the family. With no education and no personal freedoms, the Taliban ensured women would not have a voice with which to speak against the government.
Such atrocities also translated into the medical care given to women in Afghanistan. Even though 70% of the healthcare services given in Afghanistan were supplied relief efforts women were only allowed to be examined by doctors while fully clothed, eliminating any chance of an accurate examination. This large outside influence cost the US 178 million dollars in 2001 alone, causing a strain on our economy, simply to make up for what the Taliban could not supply.
Three Main Points
SOURCES
http://www.rawa.org/rules.htm
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129357288
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/6185.htm
http://www.trustineducation.org/why-afghanistan/life-as-an-afghan-woman/
http://asia.knoji.com/afghanistans-taliban-laws/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban_treatment_of_women
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/10/15/pakistan-girl-shot-by-taliban/1633923/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9385825/Taliban-film-execution-of-woman-accused-of-adultery-in-Afghanistan.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/11/taliban-execution-of-afghan-woman-causes-outraged-activists-to-mobilize.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/flying-down-to-kabul/women-in-afghanistan/politics/2201/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/uncategorized/timeline-of-womens-rights-in-afghanistan/
http://www.asiafoundation.org/country/afghanistan/2010-poll.php